


missing

by mamalovesherbagels



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: anyway, interpret that ending as you wish, ooooooooh boy, this bad things happen bingo card gonna make me a monster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27965405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mamalovesherbagels/pseuds/mamalovesherbagels
Summary: It's been three days since the tsunami, and no one has seen or heard from Karen or Chimney. Hen feels like she's in purgatory.
Relationships: Henrietta "Hen" Wilson/Karen Wilson, Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2048141
Comments: 9
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

.

Hen wants to die.

If both Karen and Chimney are dead, she wants to go, too. Denny will probably be better off without the shell of a mother she’d be if she ended the week with losing both her wife and her best friend.

It doesn’t make any sense.

It had been a normal day, a day like any other. And they were only on the road together, only in the same car on the same street for her. She had been studying so hard, they had said, and they wanted to make her smile and both offered to go to the store together to get her favorite study snacks to hopefully calm her down a bit.

She of course had told them that they didn’t have to, but they both insisted (maybe wanting to get away from her for a bit because she was being more than a little cranky, if she’s being honest with herself) and they were out the door with a kiss to the top of her head from Karen and a playful wave from Chimney.

And then the tsunami had hit, and no one had heard from them or even recovered Karen’s car-- it’s been three days. She knows the odds. Officially, they’re listed as both missing and both presumed dead.

If one more person tells her to not lose faith, to keep hope for a miracle she’s going to fucking scream. She knows how loved they are, but really, the only one who can come close to knowing how she’s feeling is Maddie, and if one more person tries to comfort her when Karen and Chimney are gone because of her…

Her silence is probably terrifying to all of her friends, especially when Maddie who she’s now learned is pregnant has gone the exact opposite route-- absolutely wailing and sobbing at all hours of the days that pass, but she can’t bring herself to care.

How is she supposed to speak, to think, to even BREATHE when it would take a true act of God to bring Chimney and Karen back to her? Her wife and her best friend, her best friend who is finally going to be a father except he’s not going to because statistically, he’s dead.

She finally makes a sound; her wedding ring clanking against the refrigerator when the feeling of it on her finger burns and she takes it off and throws it blindly.

“Hen, come--”

“I swear to god, Buck, if the next words out of your mouth are ‘come on,’ I will make it so you’re missing right along with them.”

“Okay, I know--”

“Leave it, Buck, just leave her,” Bobby says, his tone of voice calm but the overwhelming sadness in his eyes betraying them. She knows Bobby sees himself as not only the leader of the 118, but the overarching head of the extended 118 family. And two of his own are missing, and he knows that they’re not coming back, and he’s forced to watch Hen and Maddie just completely deteriorating.

She’d feel bad for him, if she wasn’t in such acute agony.

.

“Are you still alive over there?” Karen asks, and Chimney thinks she’s making a poor attempt at a joke until he groans and he can hear her practically gasping in relief.

“Yeah, not dead. At least not yet.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Karen, I’ve lost too much blood and we’ve been stranded for days,” he says flatly, “I’m not going to last much longer. You’re best bet is to--”

“I am not leaving you behind,” she practically spits at him, “not now, not ever. And especially not when you have a girlfriend with a baby in her stomach and they are both counting on you to make it home. Besides… I can’t really move anyway.”

“If I don’t make it and you do,” he whispers, more or less ignoring her, “will you tell Maddie that I love her? And Hen, too.”

“Only if you do the same, if the roles are reversed. Tell Hen and Denny that I love them so, so much.”

“Of course,” he nods, closing his eyes for just a few seconds, “I think I’m dying, Karen.”

“Yeah, I think I’m dying, too.”


	2. Chapter 2

His breathing is slow and relaxed, which would be reassuring if it hadn’t been labored the entire time that they’ve been trapped, which has been at least a few days now. They’ve seen the sun set then rise then set again..

But his breathing is calm, as if he’s sleeping and he’s having a hard time keeping his eyes open for more than three seconds at a time.

“Chimney,” she whispers, voice hoarse both from crying and lack of food or water, “are you dying?”

“We both are,” he mumbles lazily and she shakes her head, because she knows that and it’s not what she means.

“I mean are you dying right now. Like… right now.”

“Yeah… think so,” he sighs after a long moment, forcing himself to look over at her as tears pool in both of their eyes.

She wants to tell him no, to hold on and to keep fighting but she knows they’re both absolutely doomed and going to die and that he’s already held on far longer than one should have in their positions. He had always been slightly worse off, so it makes sense that he would be the one to go first.

Selfishly, she wishes the roles were reversed-- that she would die first so she wouldn’t have to watch one of her dearest friends die. But she supposes she likely only has a few more hours than him left, so at least she won’t have to miss him for very long.

She doesn’t want to, she wants to deny that this is happening but comforting him is the least she could do for someone she’s grown to love so much, right? He’s not family by blood but she doesn’t care, he’s still her family and he doesn’t deserve to die with her denial making it even worse on him, knowing all that he’s leaving behind.

“O-Okay,” she whimpers shakily, wishing she could hug him but the way they’re pinned she can’t, so she’ll have to settle for just holding his hand instead, “okay, Chimney, I’ve got you.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, and his eyes are closing for what she can only hope isn’t the final time.

“Don’t be. Y-You did your best… we both did. I-I won’t be too far behind you… you can go now, Chimney. They’ll b-be okay.”

“They will?”

“They will,” she repeats, and it feels like a knife to her chest because she feels like saying these words are giving him permission to let go, but she knows he’s going to die anyway and the kindest thing she can do for him is make sure he hears the words that he needs to before he does, “Maddie is s-so strong. It’ll be hard but the baby w-will be okay. She has so m-many people who love her, who love y-you… they’ll be okay. So will Hen and B-Bobby and everyone else. You can go now, Chimney. It’s okay.”

“I love… did you hear that?” it comes out garbled, but she can still make out his words.

“Hear what?” she asks, squeezing his hand a bit harder because she hasn’t heard anything and she doesn’t have the heart to tell him that he’s hallucinating or maybe hearing the gates to heaven opening, she doesn’t know.

“...That.”

“What, no, honey, I--”

She hears it. A voice, asking something, a knock against the car door and oh God, is she hallucinating too? Maybe she’s dying right along with him, which is ideal because now she won’t have to sit around in her car with her dead friend waiting until it’s her time too.

“Hello? We’re going to get you out of there, okay? What’s your name?”

“Karen,” she gasps, no idea if she’s being loud enough for them to hear because God, her throat hurts, “my n-name is Karen Wilson. That’s Chim-- Howard. Howard Han. W-works for the 118, like my wife does… he’s worse. G-Get him out first. He’s dying.”

“Holy shit…” the firefighter says, gesturing for his partner to come closer, “I think we found… the firefighter the LAFD wanted to honor. Presumed dead, just like the wife of the other firefighter from that unit. They’re… they’re in rough shape but alive.”

“Well then we need to move quickly so that they stay alive,” he shakes his head, before turning to them, “we’re going to get you both out of there, okay? It might hurt, but we’re going to get you out and to the hospital.”

“Bobby…” Chimney manages to grumble, fighting to keep his eyes open, “Captain N-Nash… need to… call him.”

“We will, we will. As soon as we get you both in the ambulance. It’s going to be okay. Help is here, it’s finally here.”

“Finally… here…”

“Just a little l-longer, Chimney,” Karen pleads, “just a little bit longer. H-Help is here. Going to get y-you back to Maddie and your baby…”

“Maddie… b-baby.”

“That’s right,” Karen nods, before letting out a sob, just completely overwhelmed with relief and joy and fear and for the first time in days, hope.

She’s going to see her wife and kid again. She’s going to. She just needs to follow her own advice and hold on just a little bit longer.


	3. Chapter 3

.

“Is this Captain Nash?”

Dread fills within him; he knows what this phone call is going to be. He’s known since Karen and Chimney weren’t located within those first few hours, but it’s still another thing to hear it definitively.

He takes a deep breath and puts his best brave face on, eyeing Hen in the other room as a reminder that he needs to pull it together because he is not the one suffering the most here.

“Yes, this is he,” he replies evenly, still looking at Hen who is just staring into space as if she hasn’t even registered the fact that he’s picked up the phone.

“You’re the Captain of Han and Ms.--”

“Where, how long, and how badly did they suffer?”

That certainly gets Hen’s attention, as he sees her scrambling up onto shaky legs and stumbling her way toward him. The calm resignation on her face is maybe what devastates this the most, knowing she’d held onto no false hope and she knew this was coming from the start.

“They’re… what? They’re alive? Both of them?”

“That’s not funny, Bobby,” Hen spits, tears in her eyes for the first time since that first night that they were missing.

“No, no, Hen,” he shakes his head, holding back a sob, “no, he says-- hold on, yeah, I’ll put it on speaker.”

A few seconds passes before Hen hears her wife’s voice, weak to start with and then muffled by the sounds of the ambulance, but it’s enough.

“H-Hen? Baby?”

.

Athena has never lied to her before, but Maddie can’t find it in her to trust the words of the woman practically yanking her into her car, telling her that Chimney is dehydrated and weak and badly injured but alive and expected to pull through. How is this even possible? It’s been three and a half days, and their car was swept off road by the wave… it’s not possible.

Her hand rests on her stomach that’s only just now starting to change shape as Athena grips her hand tight and tugs her through the hospital walls, before more or less shoving her into one of the rooms.

“Maddie?”

“You… you’re alive?” she whispers, feeling like she might pass out for a few seconds until an energy she’s never felt before sweeps over, and she propels herself toward him, throwing her arms around him without even stopping to think about where his injuries might be and if she’ll cause him any pain.

(Athena had explained his and Karen's injuries on the car ride over, but she hadn’t really been paying attention because she couldn’t dare let herself get her hopes up. There HAD to have been some mistake.)

“M’alive,” Chimney murmurs, and it sounds like it’s painful for him to talk and she’d tell him to just rest his voice given the fact that he’s probably been screaming and crying for help for days but she never thought she’d hear that voice again, “don’t feel good, though.”

He’s clearly out of it; his face as pale as the bedsheets and she’s beyond concerned but gratefulness is winning out at the moment as she begins kissing all over his face, from top to bottom and from side to side.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I-I know you don’t feel good but I’m here and I’m never going to leave y-you again and I’m gonna make it all better.”

.

They’re both sobbing, both her and Karen are and it’s probably hurting Karen to be crying so hard but it would be hypocritical of her to tell her to stop. She’s alive, she’s a miracle, she’s been rescued long after Hen had given up hope, and presumably long after Karen had, too.

She grimaces at that, thinking of all the pain-- both emotional and physical-- that her and Chimney had felt as they were hopelessly trapped in that car. Karen is an optimist and Chimney tends to be, too, but… they had to have known their odds, right? And if SHE, safe and sound the whole time is feeling traumatized, she can only imagine how her wife and her best friend are feeling.

“Chim… h-he okay?” Karen manages to gasp out in between sobs, “w-was… wasn’t doing well. Thought h-he was dying, we both did.”

Hen sort of wants to throw up at that, but she instead takes a deep breath and nods her head.

“Chimney’s going to be okay, baby, just like you are. You’re both going to be recovering for a while but you’re both going to be alright. Maddie’s with him now, it’s okay.”

“You should go s-see him at some point,” Karen whimpers, and now Hen shakes her head because yes, Chimney is her best friend but he has his girlfriend with him and there’s no way she can just leave her wife like this.

“Karen--”

“Not right n-now but… sometime tonight. You need t-to, know you were worried about him, and I need you t-to. Need you to see him y-yourself so you can tell me he’s okay. H-held his hand, told him it was okay t-to let go…”

A white hot pain brands her chest at the thought of Karen holding Chimney’s hand and comforting him, thinking that he was… and it’s Chimney, he’s been stabbed and impaled and if anyone knows what close to death feels like, it’s him. If he thought he was dying, he probably was. If help had come any later…

No, no, she can’t think about that or she’ll completely break, and she needs to stay at least some semblance of strong for her wife.

“Okay, Karen, I’ll go see him in a bit. But not right now. Never thought I’d see your pretty face again, need to stare at it.”

“Mmm, n-need to stare at yours, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally thought this was only gonna be 3 chapters but I think I'll add one more tomorrow, just for a bit more resolution.


	4. Chapter 4

“Hi, Hen.”

And just when she thinks she’s all cried out, that’s all it takes for the familiar sting of tears to prick her eyes once more. She had seen him briefly the night before, but he had been in and out and had mumbled something unintelligible as she pressed her lips to his forehead and then immediately fell asleep. That had been enough for the night before, to see him and have physical proof that he was alive before she went running back to her wife, but now he’s half sitting up, still not all there but able to actually communicate with her.

It’s been four days, yet it feels like she hasn’t heard her best friend’s voice in years.

“Hi, Chim,” she all but coos at him, rushing forward to sit in the chair at his bedside that isn’t already occupied by Bobby, “how are you feeling?”

It’s just the three of them-- Buck had forced his pregnant sister, with Chimney’s encouragement, to go and nap in an actual bed for a few hours and Chimney hasn’t yet felt up to having everyone visiting him all at once, so her and Bobby are more than enough for now.

“Weird, weak, tired,” he sighs, before giving her a weak smile that’s somehow still just as charming as usual, “better now that you’re here, though.”

“Shut up,” she snorts, laughing despite the tears falling down her cheeks, “God, I missed you. Never thought that I would…”

She trails off, unable to finish the sentence out loud but Chimney knows exactly where she’s going with it.

“Never thought I’d get to talk to you again, either,” he whispers, “I thought… just thought… still feels like a dream that I’m here, alive.”

“But it’s not a dream,” Bobby says gently, tears on his cheeks too as he holds one of Chimney’s hands in his, “you’re here, buddy. You did it. You and Karen both did.”

“Karen?” Chimney asks, fear in his eyes and the separation anxiety they’re both experiencing from one another and probably will experience for weeks, maybe even for months after their shared trauma of being stranded together breaks her heart, “okay?”

“Yeah, she’s doing alright. Just wanted to give her some alone time with her parents,” Hen nods, chewing on her lip before offering, “hey, I know you’d need to talk it over with Maddie so you don’t have to decide now, but maybe you and Maddie could stay with us for a bit when you’re out of the hospital? We’ve got a very cozy bedroom and maybe it would just… maybe it would be better if we’re all under the same roof for a little bit. Just think it over, okay?”

“Mmm. Sounds nice. Will ask Maddie about it later.”

“Yeah, good, Maddie… also, congratulations, by the way. I hear you’re finally going to make me an Auntie? And Bobby a grandpa?”

“Grandpa? I’m only eight years older than--”

“Maddie told me everyone knows now,” Chimney cuts Bobby off with a grin, “can’t even blame her for it coming up. I told Karen, too. We kind of ran out of other things to talk about while we were trapped for three days.”

She doesn’t want to laugh at that, she really doesn’t.

She can’t help but do so anyway.

“I cannot believe you are already making jokes about this,” Hen sighs, shaking her head, “well, I actually can because you wouldn’t be Chimney if you weren’t, but still.”

“Missed you,” he whines sweetly, and any indignation at him joking about the most horrifying experience of their lives is wiped away.

“Missed you more,” Hen sighs, leaning forward to kiss his cheek-- physical affection isn’t usually their means of expressing their friendship, but hey, extenuating circumstances.

“Missed you the MOST,” Bobby teases goodnaturedly, patting Chimney’s shoulders, “Chim, I know you’re invincible, but maybe never do this to us again, okay? I’ve had enough of near death experiences from you.”

“Me too,” he half smiles, half grimaces, “will try not to. Not fun. Really thought that this time… thought I’d miss everything. Maddie, the baby being the born, the baby growing up…”

“But you’re not going to,” Bobby hums, “you’ve got all the time in the world with them, buddy. It’s all going to be okay.”

“Promise?” he asks, voice weak and fear clear on his face and Hen’s heart splinters a bit thinking about how tough the emotional road ahead for both him and Karen is going to be as they learn to process this and try to move forward after surviving something so harrowing.

“Promise,” her and Bobby reply at the same time, and she goes to kiss his cheek again.

“Mmm. Hen. Softie.”

“Yeah, yeah, shut up.”


End file.
